Going Vintage with Vitamin Water

Last Saturday I was invited by Charlotte “stylecartel” Smith to join her and a few other bloggers on a vintage excursion with Emma aka “Miss Revive” and Paul Valentine from Exposure.

The objective was to go meet Emma, who has a vintage store called East Of Eden opening soon on Balls Pond Rd, and help her in her quest to find great vintage gems for the store.

Emma is featured in the Glaceau Vitamin Water summer campaign “show your vits”. The ads feature real people, specially picked because they fit the brand’s personality. Emma is Miss Revive. a party girl with a twinkle in her eye, she is often hitting the tiles in her 1940s get up, painting the town red – specifically East London, where she runs a club night!

Living in Hackney on and off for almost a decade, she embraces the creative energy of the area as well as its cultural diversity; not only because Hackney has a higher concentration of artists than anywhere else in Britain, but she should know what she’s talking about – she studied at the prestigious school of african and oriental studies and is now studying for a phd all about cultural diversity.

We met for brunch in Nude Espresso on Hanbury St, where we were all introduced to each other. In attendance there was Amy from Wolf Whistle, Alexxsia from Alexxsia Elizabeth, Charlie from Girl a la Mode, Charlotte from Style Cartel, Leigh from Style Canteen with her 4yr old Jase in tow, Paul from Exposure and Emma (not forgetting moi). As you can imagine we all had a lot to talk about, one of the topics being FONTS!

After brunch we went on to Hanbury Hall Vintage Market, where I pulled out some great things.

A black shirt with printed gems all over it, very 90s Ghetto Fabulous; a black cotton western shirt with hand embroidery over the shoulders from Ease the Squeeze; a sequin jacket; a navy “ostrich” lady like bag; and this…

A silk dress with multicoloured snake skin print! Char said it’s like Crystal from Dynasty, funnily enough that’s what my mommy said when I showed it to her.

Char found this delicious sequin dress and gave it to Emma to try

Emma found this female Captain America get up, which reminded me of Marina and the Diamonds.

As well as clothes there were some cute vintage jewellery, accessories and bits for the home…

This reminded me of when I was at nursery! I could’ve  used it as a magazine “rack”

These vintage inspired feather pieces are by Morgaine Alexandra

Amy and Paul got stuck in with this large tan bag

After leaving Hanbury Hall we moved on to Brick Lane, to the market upstairs next to the food place. Bert of Yorkshire Pearl spotted us instantly and hauled us over to his patch. He had an abundance of furs, one of which was a fur vest/gillet, which I was very pleased to see as that was going to be one of my fur purchases this year!

He also had this amazing fox fur, which incidentally looked better on Char, the arms were way too short for me. (Get the violins out people)

Fur back on the rail I went in search of something else, I found these trousers and shorts. Cayute!

Moving around the room I found Ease the Squeeze part II and had a right old rummage through their bag of tricks. They sell their jewellery wholesale and are in the midst of designing their own pieces which I cannot wait for!

I love big statement pieces, mainly rings and earrings, this was like heaven for me! I think I was with them for like half an hour, Leigh came to find me and also got stuck in!

In the end I took the Skull and Wings rings and got their contacts for future projects.

After the “Where are you” call we had to leave and find the others, who were at the Vintage Kilo place. Get a kilo of vintage for £15! I also got a few Deluxe Freaks for ya

I need theses mannequins in my life!

That was the last stop, we were supposed to be done by one, we went on til 4pm!

Ciao for now.

Newness

Today I reminded myself of Monica Geller from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. in the episode where she makes a New Years resolution to take more pictures of everyone including herself!

I was given a new camera a couple of weeks ago by a dear friend of mine, Mr. Dibbens. Of course I’ve used it loads since then and it comes with me everywhere I go, but today was the first chance I’ve had to go through the manual. I got half way through (to page 98!) and had to go round FDHQ getting snap happy with everything!

Work in progress…

My Naomi doesn’t have any patches…

Statement sunnies…

I’m gearing up to get the sewing machine out again…

My ceramic Hello Kitty money bank that I got from the airport on the way back from Marbella 2007

For some reason I have jewellery in every room! My Dad got my name on a rice grain somewhere in Europe when I was about 7yrs old, it still looks perfect.

My Mum bought me a car the day after I passed my test 7 yrs ago, I still have it! Not a scratch on it, bit dusty though.

Lotions and potions…

Trainerspotter T-shirt “Mike Love Not War”

Tea and cupcakes…

Thank goodness no-one was here, they’d probably have given me a few choice words. I was like a tourist in my own home! Some are alright, some are bad, practice makes perfect I guess.

Gold Mine Vintage Pop-Up Store

Vintage superstores have been a fashion go-to in major cities in the past decade but Bristol has yet to establish one. Recognising this gap in the market and a desire for affordable vintage in the city, Shop Dutty founders decided to launch The Gold Mine – an exciting new pop up vintage superstore located in Stokes Croft.

The ethos behind the Gold Mine is simple – provide a wide range of vintage fashion pieces from the 1950s up to the 1990s under one roof. With 7 years vintage fashion experience between them, the girls have an eye for gems and have worked hard to source high quality trend led pieces. Shoppers can expect to get dresses from £8, skirts from £5 and jackets from £15.

The Gold Mine will be housed in the the heart of Stokes Croft – opposite Pieminister in the building which previously held the ‘Central Reservation’ art space. The superstore will be a fun and colourful space withl decorations, music, and a place where you can drop your bags to grab a cup of tea and a cup cake.

Founders Louisa Jones and Joh Rindom are fast becoming a driving force in Bristol’s fashion scene – between them they founded and run clothing boutique Shop Dutty, set up fashion events collective ‘The Fash Pack’ and have been featured in Vogue and Grazia magazines. The Gold Mine is set to be a similar success and forms part of a wider initiative – a not for profit organisation ‘Dutty Enterprises’ which aim to support women in fashion.

The Gold Mine runs from August 2nd until October 14th. The opening evening is this Sunday 1st August from 7pm – drinks supplied by Turning Leaf Vineyards and music from local DJs.

OPENING: 1st August – 14th October

LOCATION: 15 – 19 Stokes Croft, Bristol. BS1 3PY

MAP

Mixed Chicks for Mixed Chicks

Freak Deluxe met up with creators/owners of Mixed Chicks Wendi and Kim at the Black Hair & Beauty Show 2010 earlier this year (I just wanna say, after watching Good Hair, I was highly disappointed by the ‘show’! Where were the theatricals, the dancers, the outrageous clothes?) (more…)

Grace Jones at Lovebox

Not only did Ms. Jones steal the show, she stole the whole Lovebox weekend! At 62 she has a body to die for and she knows what to do with it. She came out to “Nightclubbing” a hit from 1981 in a black Philip Treacy mask.

Every song required a different hat and sometimes jacket…

She kept this Hula Hoop going for the entire length of Slave to the Rhythm and introduction to the band, she even walked off stage with it still in motion! AMAZING

She had to leave us, she had ran over time and she didn’t want to “wake the neighbours!” She wanted to do 2 more, the feeling was mutual, I know she had another 20 Philip Treacy creations to choose from (apparently the man himself was there) alas, we all had to vacate the premises. If I ever get the chance to see her again, I’m in there like swimwear! Peace out.